Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Meanwhile in Catalonia


Catalonia is in Spain, which apparently has decided to skip the whole creeping part of fascism and just send in shock troops to oppress people. Catalonia is described as an autonomous region of the country that has its own distinct language and culture, and has decided that it wants to separate from Spain and become its own independent nation. This seems perfectly reasonable to me, but the government of Spain apparently feels differently.

In the video, Catalans are occupying a polling station that Spanish Forces are attempting to close so that people cannot vote for independence. Spanish police are tossing people down a flight of stairs, kicking people in the faces and forcibly removing them for the polling station.  
The Spanish police have raided government offices and pro-independence press throughout the last few weeks and have arrested over a dozen politicians who support independence and confiscated polling papers and machines in attempt to silence their will. 
700 out of approximately 900 Catalan mayors are under threat of being arrested by Spanish forces because they proceeded with the referendum. Over 450 people have been injured by police so far today.

The videos I've seen are shocking and horrifying. Police are randomly grabbing people by the hair, beating people savagely with batons, dragging people by the legs, etc. They are openly oppressing these people, violating their human and civil rights.

So far the response from Spain's allies have been super weak, at best calling for a stop to "the violence" without naming the source of the violence, which is the Spanish police sent from Madrid to attacking polling places and suppress people's right to vote. Catalonans are only trying to defend themselves and assert their rights, as 90% of them voted for independence. I'm scared for them but I hope they can get out from under this clearly oppressive regime.

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